Contact member for disc-shaped electrode connections



Sept. 11, 1956 KIELENSTIJN 2,762,

CONTACT MEMBER FOR DISC-SHAPED ELECTRODE CONNECTIONS Filed NOV. 6, 1953 INVENTOR HENDRIKUS KIELENST IJN BY dzww AGENT United States Patent CONTACT MEMBER FOR DISC-SHAPED ELECTRODE CONNECTIONS Hendrikus Kielenstijn, Eindhoven, Netherlands, assignor to Hartford National Bank and Trust Company, Hartford, Conn., as trustee Application November 6, 1953, Serial No. 390,696

Claims priority, application Netherlands November 13, 1952 1 Claim. (Cl. 339-143) This invention relates to a contact member for securing a plane disc-shaped electrode connection of an electric discharge tube to a substantially flat metal wall, of a resonant cavity or a hollow waveguide.

A known contact member of the foregoing type comprises a resilient disc secured in an opening in the wall and having a plurality of radial cuts formed therein starting from a circular aperture in the center. The edge of the disc-shaped electrode slightly overlaps the circular aperture in the resilient disc.

This construction has a limitation in that the cuts in the resilient member act as coupling slits between the spaces on either side of the Wall. This detrimentally affects the operation of the discharge tube, if utilized as an amplifier, in that it exhibits an insufilcient bandwidth or may even tend to oscillate.

The chief object of the invention is to mitigate these difliculties.

According to the invention, a contact member for securing a flat disc-shaped electrode connection of an electric discharge tube to a substantially flat metal wall, comprises a resilient disc having a plurality of radial cuts formed therein starting from a circular aperture in the wall and further comprises a second disc of resilient material also having cuts formed in it and directly engaging the first disc in a manner such that each disc covers up the cuts of the other disc. As a consequence, the cuts are no longer able to act as coupling slits, and the increased or doubled resilience insures satisfactory contact pressure in the event of a small displacement.

The invention will now be described in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of one form of contact member according to the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a discharge tube connected 2,762,990 Patented Sept. 11, 1956 to a metal wall by the contact member shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to the figures, a pair of resilient diaphragms or discs 2, 3 containing radial cuts 4 and 5, respectively, which start from a circular aperture 6, are secured in an opening of a resonant cavity wall 1. The discs 2, 3 are displaced such that solid parts of the upper disc 2 cover the slots 5 in the lower disc 3, whereas solid parts of the lower disc 3 cover the slots 4 in the upper disc 2. The disc-shaped grid connection 8 of an electric discharge tube 7 engages the radial springs formed by the discs 2 and 3 and is securely held in position.

While we have described our invention in connection with specific embodiments and applications, other modifications thereof will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In combination; a substantially flat metal wall having a circular aperture, an electric discharge tube having a tubular portion of given diameter and a flat disc-shaped electrode of larger diameter, and means for detachably securing and connecting said tube to said metal wall; said securing means comprising a pair of resilient metal shield discs each having a central circular aperture of about said given diameter and a plurality of radial slots therein extending outward from said aperture toward the edge of said disc to form a plurality of regularly spaced resilient metal fingers extending from near the outer edge of said disc inward to said aperture, said discs directly engaging each other in face-to-face contact and being aligned and the solid parts of said fingers of each of said discs overlying the slots of the other of said discs whereby a complete impervious resilient shield is formed pierced only by said aperture, said pair of discs being secured to said wall in the circular aperture therein, said tubular portion of said tube engaging the ends of said fingers in said discs and being solidly locked therein while said electrode pushes against and engages the adjacent portions of said fingers to make electrical contact therewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,423,548 Bels July 8, 1947 2,473,705 George June 21, 1949 2,521,945 Rado Sept. 12, 1950 OTHER REFERENCES Nielssen, abstract of application Ser. No. 46,952, published Dec. 23, 1952, 665 O. G. 1314. 

